I begin by praising Allah, the Lord of the worlds
and by sending Salutations on his Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad , his family and all his companions.

May this be only and only for the pleasure of Allah.

I will be attempting to move a legendary thread by brother Julaybib of Sunniforum to MuftiSays, reason being unfortunately no one really knows what is happening with the forum and it's been more than a year since we are waiting. The mods/admin team here have been kind enough to make room for us here and welcome us abroad. With the future of SF uncertain and the scare that the forum might just vanish off the web all together, some threads need to be saved immediately and this is one of them.

None of this work is my own and all credit goes to brother Julaybib who started the thread initially and others who contributed to it. All are requested to remember these guys and the rest of the Ummah in your duas.

On a side note brother Julaybib has himself given permission for this thread to be moved to MS as long as the mods here are okay with it. May Allah reward him abundantly in both worlds.

This thread is intended mostly as reminder for myself I hope Inshallah that others will also derive benefit, and contribute with their thoughts on self reformation.

A man was on his death bed, Someone asked him to give some wise counsel before he departed, the world he Said.

" When I was young I wanted to change the world and solve its problems, As I got older I realized that perhaps I should lower my sights, I thought I would be better served in changing my country as time went on I realized that people of country could not be changed. I decided to change the people of my town , but they also did not wish to change, When I reached my old age I thought I would try changing my Family, here also I found my endeavors go to waste, try as I might my family members would not change.

" Now that I am on my death bed, I have realized that if I had sought to improve myself, and removed my own defects, then perhaps my family members would have been influenced. Then seeing the behavior of my family people of my town would have been influenced. By seeing the spiritual change and improvement of the people of my town, the people of my country would have been influenced. And perhaps through the people of my country the world may have been influenced."
* Source Unknown.

Is it not the case that we spend very little time reflecting on ourselves, but seek out the faults and defects of others. I joined this forum last week, to help improve my knowledge, instead what I have found myself doing is getting engaged, in fruitless debates be it sectarian issues, political issues or otherwise. I wish to change the world but I find it near impossible, to change myself.

MaY Allah give us all the Tawfiq to improve our own behavior and conduct and a sinner like me in particular, ameen.

Shaqeeq Bin Ibraheem رضي الله عنه says: " In four things a person conforms with me by way of his tongue but opposes me by way of his deeds.

1.) He says that we are the servants (and slaves) of Allah subhanahu wa tala,
Yet does the deeds of free people.

2.) He says that Allah subhanahu wa tala is responsible, for our sustenance, yet his heart is not at ease upon this responsibility until at such time that he is not in possession of any worldly material;

3). He says that the hereafter holds virtue over the world, yet he always worries about hoarding wealth for this world (he has no worry for the hereafter);

4.) He says that death is inevitable, it will definitely come, yet his deeds are like those who do not want to die."

In short we spend our whole lives in the pursuit of wealth, material things and violating the rights of others, It fails to register with us that one day we shall die, only our deeds will accompany us to the grave: Often we find people who fall out with their loved ones over something petty, they spend the rest of their lives in enmity, neither willing to apologise, or compromise.If one of them passes away then the one who remains alive is filled with remorse of course by then it is too late to make ammends.

Enhance your good deeds, settle your debts, Make ammends with those whom
you have fallen out with, does it really matter whose right ,or whose in the wrong, Will our status be lowered if we are the ones who compromise and offer an apology.

May Allah give us all the tawfiq to reform ourselves, and a hypocrite like myself
in particular ameen.

Al Hasan Al Basri رضي الله عنه said," You always see the believer reproaching himself and saying things like: Did I want this? Why did I do that? Was this a better thing to do or should I have behaved otherwise?

Hazrat Umar Al Farooq رضي الله عنه Said:
"The Wisest Of Men is he who can account for his own actions."

May Allah give us all the Tawfiq to examine our own faults and rectify them ameen.

Umar Al Farooqرضي الله عنه. Said:
" Judge Yourselves before you yourselves are judged;and weigh yourselves before you yourselves are weighed in the balance. When you are brought to account tomorrow, it will be much easier for you if you have already brought your selves to account today-so do so, before you come to the final gathering "

*source 'The Purification Of The Soul'.

Just A thought.

Is it not a case that our own egos can be very deceptive, whilst sometimes our initial intentions, may be pure, We may have a desire to share the words of wisdom and knowledge we have learned, to help benefit others or perhaps we may raise issues as a reminder for ourselves. If we feel proud when others compliment us, or praise us; Then surely we should reflect whether our initial intention has remained pure. Praise from others can ruin a thousand good intentions, the ego is massaged the disease of pride and vanity become dominant in our hearts, we end up engaging in debates to prove the greatness of our knowledge even though we end up neither benefiting ourselves nor others.

May Allah protect us from Vanity and give us the Tawfiq to do good purely for his sake, May Allah protect us all from the excessive praise of others especially a hypocrite like me, ameen.

In the village of Kandhala in India a dispute arose between the muslims and the Hindus over some land; the hindus claimed that the land belonged to them and wanted to build a temple on it, the muslims claimed the land belonged to them and wanted to build a mosque on it.

The case went to court, both sides were asked to produce evidence as to whom the land belonged to. The Hindus said there is a pious elder in our village called Illahi Baksh رضي الله عنه what ever testimony he gives we will accept it. The Muslims were delighted, after all one of their own would be able to testify on their behalf, so they also stated that Shaykh Illahi Baksh'sرضي الله عنه verdict would be acceptable to them.

Shaykh Illahi Bakshرضي الله عنه was summoned to court and asked who the Land belonged to he said: " I don't know who the land belongs to, but one thing I do Know is that it does not belong to the Muslims."

So the Hindus Won the court case the deeds of the land were handed over to them. In the courtroom their was chaos, the Muslims were incensed, as the Shaykh was leaving the court people were jostling him, shouting insults calling him a Hindu agent etc.

As he managed to extract him self from the mob of Muslim's. the Hindus were waiting on the other side, the Hindus came over and said:"Maulana Sahib here are the deeds of the land , we want you to build a mosque, and we shall also worship in it, Maulana sahib we want to be Muslim just like you, for today you have proven the beauty and justice of Islam."

Shaykh Illahi Baksh by behaving justly in accordance with the teachings of Islam managed to win over a whole community, they all embraced Islam.

Something to reflect:

How often do we fall into the sin of injustice, we support our relatives in disputes with others even though we know they are wrong, similarly with those who belong to our ethnic group, tribe, clan, and those who are fellow muslim's we seek to make excuses for them in their transgressions towards others.

May Allah give us the Tawfiq and strength to stand for what is just, ameen.

"Keep yourselves in check, for they can get up to all sorts of mischief. May Allah grant mercy. May Allah grant mercy to whom-ever puts reins and blinkers on his self, directing it with the blinkers towards obedience to Allah, and steering it away from dis-obedience with the reins. Patiently avoiding what Allah has forbidden is easier than enduring punishmet that he afflicts."

May Allah give us the Tawfiq to strive towards goodness and protect us from afflictions and heedlessness ameen

Another poet says ' Today people are running to greet me, praise me and take my hand but if the really knew my past, they would not even take out time to greet me from a distance...'

The illustrious Hanza'la (may Allah be pleased with him) was a true role model. He proved that we need to make Islaah. I mean, if he could feel the difference of imaan when he was alone and when he was with the nabi , and he considered himself a Munafiq..... aaaaaa what can we say about our plight...

A great prophet of Allah is saying himself a wrong-doer, not blaming the worst of all, the Kuffar. And we muslims usually always curse Kuffar for their cruelty, never thinking that the holy Quran has termed the cruelty is actually of Nafs, of one's own.

Jazak Allah brother Khan I did not know that, Subhanala, such a treacherous tyrant as Hormuzan yet the promise to even him was not broken . One marvels at the Justice of Umar رضي الله عنه[/quote]

[quote Saad] During the time of Hazrat Umer r.a, there were so many Persian slaves in Medina and around, and If I am not wrong, they out-numbered the local people. And on the other hand, they could never forget the beating they got at the hands of the Muslims. They were always in the search for a way to hurt the Muslims. Even till today, Persians hate Arabs.

[quote Saad] Harmuzan “converted” to Islam and moved to Medinah, whereupon he planned the Persian revenge on the Arab Muslims. Harmuzan blamed the Commander of the Faithful Umar for the downfall of the Persian Empire, and it was thus that Harmuzan hatched the plan to assassinate the Caliph.

In Medinah, Harmuzan became close companions with a staunch Christian named Jafeena Al-Khalil. Jafeena was a political pawn of the Roman ruler and had served as an official in Damascus, Palestine and Heerah; the defeat of Rome by the Muslims left its mark on Jafeena who–like Harmuzan–swore revenge. The third partner was a Jew by the name of Saba bin Shamoon (whose son would be Abdullah Ibn Saba, the notorious founder of the Shia movement). Saba despised the Muslims who had expelled the Jews on charges of conspiracy. All three of these individuals–Harmuzan the Zoroastrian, Jafeena the Christian, and Saba the Jew–belonged to peoples who had grievances against the rise of Muslim dominance.

They hired Feroz Abu Lulu, a Persian, who had recently been captured by the Muslims as a POW; he was a slave under a Muslim master. Abu Lulu stabbed Umar bin Khattab to death. A day before Umar had been assassinated, Abdur Rehman-–Abu Bakr’s son-–had seen Abu Lulu standing with Harmuzan and Jafeena. The three men were whispering to one another. As Abdur Rehman passed by, the three got startled and a double edged dagger fell to the ground. Abdur Rehman would later confirm that this was the same dagger that killed Umar. The murder of Umar was thus instigated by a coalition of a Roman Christian, a Jew, and a Persian Zoroastrian. It should be noted that the Prophet had prophecized that the Christians, Jews, and pagans would always be united against the Muslims.

Today, the modern day Shia venerate Abu Lulu, and they call him “Baba Shuja-e-din” which can be translated as “Honored Defender of Religion.” These Shia have a shrine erected for this murderer, located in the Iranian city of Kashan called the Abu Lulu Mausoleum wherein he is buried. The Shia travel from far distances to pray inside this shrine, and many of the Shia fast on the day that Umar was killed, and even pass out sweets. Feroz Abu Lulu is one of the venerated founding figures of Shia ideology; the same people who conspired to kill Umar were the ones who planted the seeds of the Shia movement.

Hazrat Umar’s son, Ubaidallah, was infuriated by the murder of his father. Ubaidallah killed both Harmuzan and Jafeena. Ubaidallah was thus charged with murder and brought to the court of the new Caliph, Uthman bin Affan. Ali bin Abi Talib, Uthman’s vizier, advised that Ubaidallah should be executed for murder because there was not enough evidence to convict Harmuzan and Jafeena of any crime. Furthermore, reasoned Ali, extra-judicial vigilante justice was not permitted in Islam; Harmuzan and Jafeena should at least have been entitled to a fair trial and-–if found guilty–-be executed by none other than the state.

However, the other Sahabah–-including Amir bin al A’as-–differed with Ali’s position , because they sympathized with Ubaidallah , who was the son of the great Umar . His father had just been murdered in cold blood, and so they wished that Ubaidallah be forgiven due to the fact that he was acting out of distress. Caliph Uthman thus ruled that Ubaidallah must pay blood-money. But because Harmuzan and Jafeena had no relatives, Uthman declared that the blood-money should be given to charity and the Baitul Mal. However, Ubaidallah was unable to pay the blood-money due to lack of funds, and so it was that Caliph Uthman paid this money out of his own pocket.

This was one of his first acts as Caliph, and the conspirators (in particular Abdullah Ibn Saba’s father) viewed Uthman’s decision very unfavorably. It was in this atmosphere that Uthman bin Affan came to power, and the machinations of the conspirators continued in full force. Ubaidallah had killed Harmuzan and Jafeena, but Saba bin Shamoon remained alive. His son, Abdullah Ibn Saba, “converted” to Islam and he would uphold the task of destroying Islam from within.

The fact that Uthman showed mercy upon Ubaidallah angered Saba bin Shamoon and his son, Abdullah Ibn Saba. These two men looked sympathetically towards Ali, due to the fact that Ali had taken a harsh stance towards Ubaidallah’s actions. It was thus that Abdullah ibn Saba “converted” to Islam and founded the Shia sect, calling the masses to adore Ali and agitating them against Uthman. It was Abdullah Ibn Saba’s propaganda against Uthman that helped fan the flames of civil discontent and caused the people to rise against the Caliph. And so it was that the Saba’ites (followers of Abdullah Ibn Saba) assassinated Uthman.

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